Naked Before the World

Series: How to Look God Naked
Sermon: Naked Before the World
George J. Saylor
February 24, 2008

Opening:
So what is your tendency- prude or exhibitionist? Are you prone to conceal, or are you all too eager to let it out? If the former, take a step and open up; if the later, how has it gotten you in trouble?

Digging Deeper:
Moses put a veil over his face to hide the fading glory of God. What is the veil you put up? What does it hide?
Living with unveiled faces is a risk. Talk about the three steps mentioned to get there- Prudence, Prudent Exhibitionism, and finally Unveiled Lives. With whom can you live an unveiled life? Anyone?
Read Colossians 3:1-14
What do you need to strip away from your life?
What “clothes” are hardest for you to put on- compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience? Why is it so tough to “bear with” on another? Why is forgiveness so vital? Why is love so essential?

Closing:
Is your group ready to live unveiled before one another? What can you prudently expose in an effort to develop authenticity and true community?

___
Colossians 3:1-14
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Naked Before God

Series: How to Look Good Naked
Sermon: Naked Before God

Opening- Let’s start by building one another up. Read Psalm 139 and tell each other how marvelous you look! Tell the person next to you something beautiful about them, something you appreciate in them.

Digging Deeper: Read Isaiah 6:1-7
Who is Isaiah and where is he?? Read 1:1, 6:4, or check out a study bible.
What did Isaiah see? Describe the vision and discuss- what are Seraphs? Why would they cover their faces and feet? What is the importance of the three-fold “holy” praise?
What is Isaiahs immediate response, and why would he respond this way?
Why the need for a burning coal? Why the lips? What does it mean to have both your guilt taken away AND your sin atoned for?
Let’s talk more about confession- “homologeo,” “to say the same”
Read Romans 10:5-12. What is the first role of confession in our lives? Discuss (hint: salvation).
Read 1 John 1:5-10. What is the second role of confession? Discuss (hint: sanctification).

Closing: take time for confession, for as the bible says,
Proverbs 28:13, “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”
And James 5:16, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

Isaiah 6:1-7
1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

How To Look Good Naked: Standing Before the Mirror

February 3, 2008

Series: How to Look Good Naked

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.” Job 1:21

We are obsessed with nudity! We have nightmares about being caught in our underwear. We see nudity in magazines, on TV and in the movies. Pornography is a 10-billion dollar business. But coming to grips with our own nudity is essential. It’s how we begin life, and how we end life. How will we live in between? This series will help us to deal with the reality of standing naked before ourselves, before God, before others and the world. Let’s strip down (metaphorically) and get real!

Opening: Everyone get naked! Just kidding, really. Start with a look in the mirror- share something you really like about yourself, and something you’d like to change.

Digging Deeper: Read the creation story, Genesis 1:26-2:2, 2:15-25

• In your own words, discuss what it means to be made in the image of God.
• What is unique about our role in creation?
• What is unique about our relationship with God?
• What is the relationship like between Adam and Eve?
• What would it be like to be naked and have no shame, no fear?
• What are the wonderful things we can affirm about our image? What are the fallen things?

Closing: Read these passages where God shares how he sees us. Psalm 139:16-19, Isaiah 43:1, Jeremiah 31:3, Zephaniah 3:17, John 15:12-17, 1 Peter 2:9.

Genesis 1

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, ^[b] and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Genesis 2

15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
But for Adam ^[h] no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs ^[i] and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib ^[j] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

23 The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman, ^[k] '
for she was taken out of man."

24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Psalm 139

1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, ^[a] you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

Isaiah 43

Israel's Only Savior

1 But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.

3 For I am the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush ^[a] and Seba in your stead.

4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give men in exchange for you,
and people in exchange for your life.

5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.

Jeremiah 30

1 "At that time," declares the LORD, "I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they will be my people."

2 This is what the LORD says:
"The people who survive the sword
will find favor in the desert;
I will come to give rest to Israel."

3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, ^[a] saying:
"I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with loving-kindness.

John 15

9"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.